Air Quality in Delhi Drops Again as Stubble Burning Increases

The air quality of Delhi-NCR worsened further on 24 November, Friday with some areas still facing "severe plus or emergency" situation even as the satellite images showed burning incidents continuing in some areas of Delhi itself for the second day in a row.

While experts are unclear of the exact proportion of toxicity that extra effluents from crop-residue or garbage burning in NCR and neighbouring states adds to Delhi's air, the practice however continues unabated in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, all surrounding the National Capital Region (NCR).

According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi on Friday was 335 or "very poor" at 4 pm, against 288 at the same time on Thursday.

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Anand Vihar in east Delhi, Delhi Technical University in north Delhi and Ghaziabad continued facing "emergency or severe plus" pollution situation with concentration of major pollutant PM2.5 or particles with diameter less the 2.5 micrometers, recorded above 300.

While the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research has predicted the air quality of Delhi-NCR to further worsen over the next three days, all its ten monitoring stations across NCR recorded a "very poor" air quality by 7pm.

The PM 2.5 concentration ranged between 306 to 344 across Dhirpur, Pitampura, and Delhi University in north Delhi, Lodhi Road and Pusa in central Delhi, Ayanagar and Mathura Road in south Delhi, Noida, Gurugram and Indira Gandhi International airport. The safe limit for PM 2.5 is 25 microgrammes per cubic meters as per international standards and is 60 as per national standards.

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As per weather analysts, drop in the speed of north-westerly wind coming from region of maximum emissions – Punjab and Haryana, is a prime reason for drop in the air quality of Delhi.

The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) also expects the air quality to deteriorate further due to fog formation as weather analysts predict change in the wind direction and type, from dry to moist, towards 28 November.

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(With inputs from IANS.)

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